Rakhimzhanova A.B.

Eurasian national university named after L. N. Gumilyev,

Astana, Kazakhstan

Traditional names of animals in English and Kazakh languages

Animals, usually, are considered to be as an indefinite multitude and they are not given proper names. Nevertheless, when animals become the object of people’s attention, when individual relationship between a man and an animal is set up, they get proper names. A special branch of onomastics which deals with names of animals, principles of their appearance, development and functions is called zoonymics. Since the ancient time people had begun to name animals: their favorite pets or domestic animals. The traces of naming animals in history go back to the antic Greek mythology; there we can meet different names of animals, which nowadays became common nouns. Thus, Cerberus – a three headed, angry dog with a snake instead of its tail, which guarded the entrance of underground kingdom, gained another transferred meaning such as “alert and fierce guardian”; Pegasus - winged horse of Zeus became a symbol of poetic inspiration. In history there are well-known names of Bucephalus (a horse of Alexander Macedonian) and Cabal (a favorite dog of King Arthur, who struggled with Anglo-Saxon invaders in V-VI centuries), Diamond (the dog of Isaac Newton, his dog accidentally burnt some of his works), Rogue (a faithful dog of king Charles I), Prim (a favorite spaniel of George Gordon Byron, he mentioned his dog in his poems), Nelson and Rufus (a cat and a poodle of Winston Churchill).

Names of animals are often associated with folk and mythic symbolism. The roots of this phenomenon go far into the past, when tribes worshiped the images of animal totems. In the cemeteries of the tribes who lived on the coasts of the Seas, archeologists find figures of turtle, dive, seal or dolphin; in the burials of tribes, who lived in steppes - figures of serpents, in the cemeteries of tribes who lived in the forests – we can find figures of bear, deer or wolf, which were considered to be the ancestors of the people, their deities. At a later period some animals became the personification of the qualities that a person would have or from whom he sought to get rid of: the serpent is the symbol of wisdom, but also the embodiment of cunning and deceit; Lion - the personification of strength and nobility; bear-a symbol of strength, etc. As we see zoonyms reflect beliefs, traditions and culture of people.

Observing the history of England, we can say that Englishmen were really fond of animals. Even today in England animal cult is reigning; in psychology this phenomenon is called zoolatry. A number of newspapers and magazines are regularly published for animal-lovers. According to the statistics each second family keeps domestic animal in England. Old tradition of horse-breeding in England made special tradition of naming horses. This tradition includes rules of naming racehorses. These rules are published annually by Jockey Club – organization which is responsible for equestrian sport and controls horse-racing competitions. Major group of horse names are made up of words and word combinations meaning some qualities or peculiarities (pace, character etc.) of animal: Fast Motion, Flying Rocket, Rapid River, Pretty Fast, Stormer, Swift, Brave Lad, Be Gentle, Gay Dancer, Happy Hunter, Realistic, Quick, Mile-a-Minute, Here comes trouble. In England as well as Jockey Club exist also club of people who is very fond of dogs which is called Kennel Club. It regulates the naming process of dogs, for instance dogs’ names can consist of no more than 24 letters, but in practice they have short names consisting of only two syllables: Playboy, Promise, Polestar, Mercy, Fancy, Famous, Picnic etc. At all tames Kazakh people raised four kinds of cattle (tort tulik mal) – such as sheep, horses, camels and black cattle (cows). “We are inhabitants of steppe… The main our wealth is in horses; meat and leather are the best food and clothing”, - as nomad people stated in XVI-XVII centuries. Since Kazakh people was very fond of horse and they says “Er kanaty – at”, which can be translated as “Horse is the wing of man”, it means that, for them horse was not only the mean of transport but also best friend, indicator of well-being etc. In the epic and lyro-epic poems heroes were not described without their horses (“Kobylandy”- Tayburyl, “Er Targyn” - Bayshubar, “Kyz Zhibek” – Ak boz at).

As well as English horse names which were mentioned above Kazakh horse names also are based on the color of animals or individual quality, peculiarity, character of animals. The most of horse names have adjectives denoting such colors as: ak-white, ala - freak, shubar- stripped, kara – black etc. The Kazakhs also call horses according to the paces ( Bozzhorga: zhorga – fast motion), ages – Tayburyl (Tay-two years old horse), mane – Tokpakjal, spots- Aktanger, Akbakay, Tobylgy, behavior – Shaitankara (Shaitan - Devil), Kokoinak (Kok – blue, oinak - joy).

Among four kinds of cattle Kazakh people very seriously treated a camel. Kazakh language is very rich with the toponyms, names of tribes and clans, names of people which contain zoonym “camel”. Camel names such as Bozingen, Akbura, Karabura, Zhelmaia, Karanar are very popular, many folk songs and poems were based on the stories about camels. But we should take into consideration that camel names are much less than horse names. As opposed to the Kazakhs, Englishmen did not raise camels because climate and relief of country did not allow them to do it. Moving in the deserts Kazakhs used camels instead of horses; because camels survive without water many days. Kazakhs also had sheep and goats, cows but their attention to these kinds of domestic cattle is not comparable with their attention to the horses and camels. They did not give sheep and cows proper names in comparison with Englishmen. Kazakhs give names to the dogs; these animals differ from others with their fidelity to the masters. They were considered to be the guardians of a man and defenders of his wealth. There are the most-widespread names of dogs such as: Aktos, Boribasar, Karaauyz, Taimas, Mailyayk, Sakkulak, Maitaban, Kutayk, Akkaska, Moinak, Akazu, Syrttan, Alaayk, Algyr, Joldyayk, Kaitpas, Jelayk, Arshyn, etc. As well as horse names, dog names also were based on the color, behavior, character of animals.

We must pay attention to the fact that Kazakhs did not give the names to cows, goats, sheep and cats. But these kinds of animals in England are considered to be farm animals and as opposed to Kazakhs they must have names without fail. Names of farm animals also are divided into different semantic groups. Among them we meet personal names such Oliver (duck), Charles, Tom Jones (lambs), Othello (black lamb), Betsy (hen), Molly, Polly, Dolly (calves); names of concrete items: Salt and Pepper, Mustard and Cress, Trumpet; words which mean abstract notions: Boredom, Sanctity, Magic. The most wide-spread names connect with the peculiarities of animals’ appearance such as color, size: Hercules, Samson, Tiny, Twiggy; Patch, Spot, Smoky, Darky, White, Redhead, Jet, Amber, Rainbow; Nelson, Shiner, Socks (colors of neck and head).

As we have understood giving names to animals is very complicated process. Zoonyms as an object of study deserve special attention because, they form a specific sub-system, with own rules, which require special description. However, the study of scientific literature shows that, despite the prevalence and definition of a generic zoonymic vocabulary that characterizes the person in many languages, we can say that this part of linguistics is not investigated enough. There are many problems which are waiting for their solutions. Proper names contain much more ethnocultural components than common nouns. If an ethnocultural aspect of this problem is regarded from the cognitive linguistics and lingvocultureology we are sure we will find interesting facts which display us national linguistic image and national view of world of each people.

Bibliography:

1. Alimbek G. «The meaning of word and information» manual, Аlmaty: «Аtlas», 2006

2. Kerimbaev E. «Kazakh onomastics in ethnocultural, nominative functional aspects», Аlmaty: 1995

3. Linko T.V. “Zoonyms in Kazakh and Russian languages”, Almaty, 1989

4. Williams, R. A. “Vocabulary of culture and society”, London, 1976